Bonang Matheba is CLEO magazine’s first South African cover star. Since its launch here in 2007, the global title, born in Australia, has featured international stars on its cover who have in common the fact that they are sexy, strong and stunning, and are role models for the mag’s 20-something readers.
Bonang, with her presence on radio and television, as well as her role as a Lifestyle brand ambassador, fits the mould perfectly. “We realise this is not the first local cover to feature Bonang,” says CLEO’s editor Natalie Pool, “but we’ve had our eye on her for a while and truly believe she is the very epitome of a CLEO girl. At 24, Bonang is the same age as many of our readers, and like them she is hard working and ambitious, and shoe-obsessed!”
The social-networking queen, who has over 80 000 Twitter followers and over 200 000 Facebook fans, has as a slot on YFM, co-hosts SABC1’s Live and has her own Internet reality show B*Dazzled, on Bonangmatheba.com. “She’s living proof that girls really do run the world and that’s what makes her so appealing to young South African women,” says Pool. “If she can do it, why can’t we?”
Bonang graces the October issue of CLEO magazine, which includes a four-page spread and revealing interview with the young businesswoman and style icon who spoke candidly to the magazine about just about everything. Here’s just a sneak peak of what she had to say:
On being a Twitter queen:
“I’ll tweet while waiting for interviews, or during a shoot, but I do most of my tweeting at night when I’m in bed. That’s when I can answer fan questions.”
On dealing with haters:
“I now have a second Twitter account; I literally had to delete my first one because I was being attacked every day. I’m not the kind of person who argues; I don’t fight back, I just ignore it.”
On her reality show B*Dazzled:
“It’s either I do it, and I do it properly, or I don’t do it at all. If I want people to celebrate me, it must be all of me, but in a controlled manner. I won’t show viewers my mother’s house, or my very personal life, it’s more about what I think they’ll find interesting.”
On relationships:
“I’m like the one on Red Bull in a relationship, so I need someone who brings me back down to earth.”
As for ‘Queen B’ herself? She simply says, “The idea of being the first local girl on the cover of CLEO magazine is such an honour for me since I’m involved with the Lifestyle brand which celebrates young fabulous women in terms of fashion, lifestyle and beauty just like CLEO magazine.”
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For more confidence and style tips from Bonang follow Lifestyle SA on Twitter @Lifestyle_SA (Twitter.com/Lifestyle_SA)
